Girl Talk
by Lonestarr
Summary: A quick chat can be really helpful.


Disclaimer: "Phineas and Ferb" was created by Jeff 'Swampy' Marsh and Dan Povenmire. No, really. Check the credits.

The red-haired girl stalked toward the kitchen. She threw open the refrigerator and grabbed a diet soda. The scowl on her face suggested that she was in a sour mood. She slammed the door and headed for the stairs.

At that moment, she found herself face to face with a younger girl. The visitor had a pink bow in her dark hair.

"Whatcha doin'?" There was such an innocence to the greeting that the older girl was thrown for a loop.

"Well, at the moment, I'm trying to enjoy my soda." She tried to open the pull-tab, but it broke off in her hand. She buried her head in her hands. "Ohhhhh! I'm cursed!" She sat down on the stairs.

The younger girl walked over to her. "I'm sure you're not cursed, Candace."

"Yes, I am! My brothers are always up to something, and when I try to tell Mom, she never believes me."

"Are they doing anything wrong?" The little girl sat on the step next to the redhead.

"Well…no."

"Then what's the big deal?"

"It's…they're always…doing things and…" Candace sighed. "I don't know."

"You sure you don't know?"

Candace whined a little. She _did_ know, but felt uncomfortable discussing it with a girl she barely knew. She steeled herself and glanced down at the girl. "You're one of their friends. Why should I be telling you anything?"

"I'm really good at keeping secrets. Whatever you say doesn't leave the stairs." She put a hand on her heart and placed the other in the air. "I promise."

"Okay. I guess…that I'm jealous. There. You dragged it out of me."

"Jealous? Why?"

"Well…I never got to do any of the stuff they do when I was their ages. I took ballet. I never designed clothes or entered car races."

"You can still do that stuff when you're older."

"Yeah, but they got to do it now. I'd probably have to wait years from now."

"Maybe that's the problem. You're so stuck on what they're up to, you don't have time for yourself."

"Hey! I have plenty of time for myself. I have friends, I hang out at the mall and--" Candace quickly covered her mouth.

"What? What were you about to say?"

"You're probably too young to understand about this, but there's this guy I really, _really_ like."

"Believe me. I understand."

The redhead slumped down. "But he thinks I'm a freak."

"How do you know?"

"I try to talk to him, but I can see it in his eyes."

"So you really like this guy?"

A wistful sigh from the older girl. "With all my heart."

"Well, you just need to be calm with this guy. When you're talking with him, don't think of him as this guy you really, really like. Think of him as just a guy." The girl hopped off of the step and picked up the can of soda. "Whether or not he thinks you're a freak - which you're not - you have a better chance of ending up with him." She walked to the kitchen.

Candace let out a light snort. "How did you get to know so much about people? What, are your parents psychiatrists or something?"

"Just Mom." She placed the can on the counter and grabbed an empty glass from the nearby strainer. "Dad's an independent contractor." She opened a drawer and pulled out a can opener.

"I guess I owe her a thank you."

The girl ran the opener along the can and poured the contents into the glass. "She's not the only one." She walked back to Candace and handed her the glass.

"Thank you." Candace took the glass and took a sip. "But why would you want to help me? We barely know each other."

"Us girls have to stick together."

"I feel a lot better. I never really talked about this with anyone before."

"Don't you talk to your friends?"

"I tried, but they don't have any brothers or sisters. They could care less about what my brothers are up to." Another sip. "I guess I shouldn't, either."

"That's the spirit." The girl hopped off of the stairs.

"Thank you…" Candace shook her head. "What's your name?"

"Isabella."

"Thank you, Isabella."

"You're welcome." The little girl walked out of the house, leaving Candace alone. The redhead sighed as she got up and walked up the stairs.

XxXxXxXxX

Candace shook her head as she reached for the doorknob of her room. "Maybe, those two aren't so bad. I mean, they do deserve credit for creativity."

She turned the knob and opened the door. Her bemused expression changed to one of shock within the span of ten seconds.

Where her room should've been was now a gaping hole. If she hadn't been so overcome with shock, Candace would've seen that the edges were lined with broken planks, as if a giant creature had taken a bite out of it.

"…now we just need to…oh, hi, Candace!"

The girl rushed to the edge of her former room. She looked down and saw two boys in a crane. One of them, who had green hair and a striking nose, operated the crane. The other, who had a tuft of red hair atop his triangle-shaped head, held up a blueprint.

Overwhelmed by this, Candace fainted.

"This never happened on 'Trading Spaces'.", remarked the boy operating the crane…in an English accent.

The boy with the blueprint simply shrugged. "So much for the surprise."

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A/N: This has to be the smallest amount of time between the premiere of a show and me writing a fan fiction based on said show. However, my heart really goes out to Candace. I know there's no real malice associated with her trying to show her mother what Phineas and Ferb are up to and failing, but the empathy still manages to kick in. I'm kind of reminded of "One Froggy Evening", in that respect.

Even with this aspect, "Phineas and Ferb" has managed to avoid all of the worst traits of today's cartoons: disgusting toilet humor, annoyingly stupid characters and pointless character humiliation (though they kind of skirt the edge of this with Candace, as I mentioned). Best of all, there are no disturbed girls who can't decide if they hate or love the main character. Someone sweet and direct with her feelings like Isabella is, truly, a breath of fresh air. I couldn't help but speculate what would happen if the two girls got together and talked; Candace really needs to talk to someone about this and Isabella…she seems pretty capable with a lot of other skills, so maybe budding psychologist could be one of them.

Thanks for reading and reviewing and have a nice day.


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